Far-right activists from Britain First and the English Defense League (EDL) gathered to oppose radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary, whose supporters were handing out leaflets urging Muslims not to vote, outside the London Central Mosque.

Around 100 members from the two far-right groups gathered outside
the London Central Mosque and the Islamic Cultural Center in
central London as Muslims entered the building to observe Friday
prayers or Jumu-ah.

The nationalists were waving Union and St. George’s flags and
some of them were dressed in niqab veils and pig head masks as
they chanted anti-Islamic messages.

Several EDL memebers sang “it’s our country, we’re taking it
back” to the tune of The Beach Boys’ Sloop John B, while
others went for the more creative approach and just shouted
“scum”.

There were as many policemen at the scene as protesters, and
around 100 officers made sure the members of the EDL and Britain
First were kept well away from those people coming out of the
mosque.

After Jumu-ah, Choudary spoke to worshipers and urged them not to
vote in May’s general election and handed out leaflets with the
title “why it is strictly forbidden to vote in Islam.”

“Only God can make things lawful and unlawful. If a human
being does this…this is considered the most heinous crime,”
one passage reads, as cited by London Evening Standard.

People who spoke to the British press seemed more bemused or
indifferent than offended at the far-right’s protest, including
Muslims at the scene.

“It’s a mosque. People come here to pray and to be honest all
that they are doing is making it hard for people to come and go.
We should be trying to live together,” said Mohamed Drali, a
young Egyptian immigrant, as quoted by the Guardian.

While others were also disdainful of the message Choudary was
pushing.

“It’s completely the wrong message they are putting out. It’s
also incredible that they – both them and the ones of the other
side of the street - are doing this on this Friday. It’s
important to both us, Christians and Jews. We should be together
on a day like this,” Ahmed Dogan, an architect originally
from Turkey, told the Guardian.

Britain First is trying to displace the British National Party as
the standard bearer of the far-right.

Earlier their leader, Paul Golding, likened the scene to Rorke’s
Drift from the 1964 feature film Zulu, which depicts a battle
between the British Army and the Zulus in January 1879, although
the Zulu’s were an African tribe with no connection to Islam.

“We were here last year too. It was like Rorke’s Drift…just
us in the middle of thousands of angry Muslims,” he said.